DIY Cork Sailboats – Nautical Summer Decor

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Square feature image of two DIY Cork Sail Boats with patriotic sails.

These DIY cork sailboats are a simple and fun craft. Made with corks, scrap fabric, and ribbon, these sailboats are easy to personalize and display throughout the summer.

Supplies

Supplies used to make cork sailboats, scrap fabric, ribbon, baker's twine, corks, sticks and a hot glue gun.
Supplies
  • 7 corks
  • String or baker’s twine
  • Cotton scrap fabric for the sail
  • 2 sticks for the sail (I used a tree branch roughly 8″ long)
  • Scissors
  • A ruler or straight-edge
  • Hot glue gun
  • Ribbon or decorations (optional)

How to Make a DIY Cork Sailboat – 4 Easy Steps

STEP 1:

Make the base of the sailboat by hot-gluing two sets of three corks together along the sides.

Photo showing how to glue wine corks together in two sets of three to make the base of our DIY Cork Sailboat.
Hot glue two sets of corks together.

Hot-glue all seven corks together, wrap them with decorative string or twine, and set aside.

Photo showing seven corks glued together to make the base of our cork sailboat. Colorful red and blue bakers twine tied around the center for decoration.
Hot glue all the corks together. Wrap with decorative string or twine.

STEP 2:

Hot-glue the two sticks together that will support the sail. Wrap them with string or twine for extra support, as shown below.

Photo of two sticks from the yard that are about 8 inches long glued together in a 't' shape to make a base for the sails for a DIY cork sailboat.
Hot glue and tie two sticks together.

STEP 3:

Lay the support sticks for the sail on the fabric to use as a template. Use a straight edge or ruler to draw a line from the top of your stick (top of the sail) to the corner. Cut out your sails with fabric scissors.

Photo of drawing a sail onto cotton fabric by drawing a line from corner to corner and tracing sail shapes using the stick as a guide.
Trace a left and right sail onto the fabric.

Your fabric should look like this: two 90-degree triangles.

Photo of two sails in the shape of 90 degree triangles cut out.
Fabric for the sails

STEP 4:

Hot glue your stick to the cork base first, then add the fabric sail. Glue the fabric to the bottom stick, but just tack it at the top so it looks open at the center. Decorate with a colorful string at the top or add a tiny flag or ribbon.

Photo showing the stick glue to the center of a cork base boat and beginning to hot glue one of the fabric sails on.

Here’s a photo of my finished sailboats in a Patriotic basket I made for the 4th of July. If you’d like to check out the basket tutorial, you can link to the full DIY Patriotic basket tutorial here.

Square feature image of a patriotic basket made from a laundry basket on a porch table, filled with two patriotic wine cork sail boats and the American flag flying in the background.
DIY Patriotic Basket
Vertical photo of two finished DIY cork sailboats made from scrap fabric and wine corks. The sails are blue and red check and the other has white sail with blue ribbon at the bottom. Both are decorated with red and blue bakers twine. Please pin this image to your Pinterest craft boards to come back to later!
Star divider used has two hand drawn lines with a star in the center, used as a content break and signals new or different content below. This doodle style illustration is in a medium charcoal gray.

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Shown the feature image for a fairy garden post that contains 10 different fairy gardens along with ideas for best plants and containers to use. Shown here is a miniature fairy girl with flowers in her hair kneeling in a gree dress. She is on a vintage baby spoon with red and green foliage in the background and a hint of moss to the side.
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Square feature photo showing three free printable cards with smiling Kawaii style fruit. Thank You with two smiling cherries on a stem, You're Sweet with a smiling pineapple and You're Awesome with a smiling strawberry.
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A breezy progress shot and feature photo for 10 fun and easy beachy crafts. shown is a metal wreath form wrapped in sand and aqua tulle with beach florals, succulents, greenery sprigs, shells, and wire snips at the ready.
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